Affordable Homes May 'Save' Rural Churches

Hundreds of England's village churches could be revived and up to 10,000 affordable homes built for local families – if churches sold land and buildings to housing associations, it has been revealed.

New research by the National Housing Federation shows that if each of the 9,600 rural Anglican churches sold or leased land, or church buildings, a tenth of the 100,000 affordable rural homes the nation desperately needs could be delivered.

The Federation believes that with the Church of England owning an average of eight acres of land per Anglican village church, in addition to parsonages and church halls, every rural place of worship could deliver an average of one new affordable home.

Other denominations such as the Methodists, Baptists and other free church denominations also have rural churches that could be used for affordable housing.

The Federation says that with a number of rural churches at risk of closure, because of low attendances, the selling of land, for new homes, could help many safeguard their future – with the money raised being used to pay for desperately needed repairs or the construction of new places of worship.


During the last few decades, all major denominations have been hit by declining congregations and resulting church closures.

Recent research has shown that rural churches have been disproportionately affected by falling numbers.

This is in part because of population shifts, with around 500 Anglican churches being situated in hamlets of around 80 people.

However, the Federation believes many rural churches could help safeguard their future by making underused and redundant assets, such as glebe land, parsonages and church halls, available for the development of housing – with just half an acre being sufficient to deliver four affordable homes.

The Federation says that churches wanting to deliver affordable housing can sell or lease glebe land to a social housing provider, exchange the existing church building and grounds for a modern new one, or adapt the existing building so that it contains both social housing and a place of worship.

It says that churches can sell land to housing associations at a price which represents the best price for the community – placing greater emphasis on the role the new affordable homes will play in helping local families than the cash value of the land.

In some cases, churches would give up their existing, often crumbling, places of worship, which are a drain on their resources.

Then, having raised income through making land available for housing, their congregations would be released from the continual worry of paying for the upkeep of the building and meet for services instead in alternative places, such as people’s houses, cafes and pubs.

Overall, the Church of England owns around 129,000 acres of glebe land – which are controlled by the church's 43 dioceses. While it would not be practical or desirable for every single village church to deliver a new home, many rural places of worship would be able to deliver several units.

The Federation says that with 750,000 people on waiting lists for an affordable rural home, those churches that do give over land for affordable housing would help both themselves and local village communities. The Federation believes that 100,000 new affordable homes are needed in rural England.

(CD/BMcc)